Michael Abels

Release Date: 02/24/2023
Format: 2 X LP
Label: Waxwork Records
Release type: 180 Gram "The Untethering" Colored Double Vinyl LP Pressing

• The Complete Score By Michael Abels
• Interactive Gatefold Jacket w/ Satin Coating
• Die-Cut Mirror Board Back Cover
• Art By Edward Kinsella
• Liner Notes By Shana L. Redmond Ph.D.
• Heavyweight 11"x11" Art Print

Waxwork Records is proud to present the Us Original Motion Picture Soundtrack featuring a score by composer Michael Abels. Us, released in March 2019, is an original nightmare written, directed and produced by Academy Award®-winning visionary Jordan Peele (Get Out). Set in present-day Santa Cruz on the iconic Northern California coastline, the film, starring Oscar® winner Lupita Nyong’o and Black Panther’s Winston Duke, pits an ordinary American family against a terrifying and uncanny opponent: doppelgängers of themselves.

Abels featured a 30 person choir, a third of them children, in the “Anthem,” and implemented Eastern European instruments, violins, percussion, and a virtual instrument called a Propanium drum. “It makes this trashy metal sound, but you can also play melodies on it,” Abels said. “The Propanium drum has a sound that’s both otherworldly but not electronic or like science fiction. It’s a sound you can’t quite put your finger on, which is why it works well in this film.”

Also included on the soundtrack is the 1995 hip-hop hit “I Got 5 On It” by Luniz and the stand-out track “I Like That” by Janelle Monáe. Abels also helped with a new arrangement of the Luniz hit, which is featured on the soundtrack as the ‘Tethered Mix from Us’.

Waxwork is thrilled to present the soundtrack and score as a deluxe double LP featuring 180-gram "The Untethering” Red, Brass, and White split colored vinyl. The album artwork was created by illustrator Edward Kinsella. The interactive packaging includes die-cut inner gatefold jackets that require customers to use scissors to cut through family-member portraits to reveal their tethered doppelgängers lurking in the shadows on the printed inner sleeves housed within. More deluxe items include a die-cut mirror board back cover, a heavyweight 11”x11” art print, and an exclusive essay by UCLA Professor, scholar, and activist Shana L. Redmond Ph.D., author of Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora

1. Michael Abels – Anthem 2:58
2. Janelle Monáe – I Like That 3:22
3. Michael Abels – Outernet 0:46
4. Michael Abels – Spider 1:17
5. Michael Abels – Ballet Memory 1:11
6. Luniz – I Got 5 On It 4:15
7. Michael Abels – Beach Walk 1:24
8. Michael Abels – First Man Standing 0:45
9. Michael Abels – Back To The House 1:10
10. Michael Abels – Keep You Safe 1:37
11. Michael Abels – Don't Feel Like Myself 2:00
12. Michael Abels – She Tried To Kill Me 1:46
13. Michael Abels – Boogieman's Family 1:25
14. Michael Abels – Home Invasion 4:11
15. Michael Abels – Once Upon A Time 3:00
16. Michael Abels – Run 4:39
17. Michael Abels – Into The Water 2:24
18. Michael Abels – Spark In The Closest 2:58
19. Michael Abels – Escape To The Boat 1:18
20. Michael Abels – Femme Fatale 2:14
21. Michael Abels – Silent Scream 1:24
22. Michael Abels – News Report 2:02
23. Michael Abels – Zora Drives 1:42
24. Michael Abels – Death Of Umbrae 0:55
25. Michael Abels –  Somber Ride 1:07
26. Michael Abels – Immolation 1:41
27. Michael Abels – Down The Rabbit Hole 2:35
28. Michael Abels – Performance Art 1:20
29. Michael Abels – Human 4:04
30. Michael Abels – Battle Plan 0:59
31. Michael Abels – Pas De Deux 2:52
32. Michael Abels – They Can't Hurt You 1:46
33. Michael Abels – Finale 3:05
34. Minnie Riperton – Les Fleurs 3:17
35. Luniz – I Got 5 On It (Tethered Mix From Us) 1:43